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		the steel nib

		Writing with metal pens from the sixteenth to the late eighteenth centuries was like writing with a blunt nail. They had the great disadvantage of not being flexible enough to produce the thick and thin strokes of the eighteenth and ninteenth centuries round-hand writing styles. For that reason, the quest for a flexible and reliable metal pen began in earnest. Many individuals, including blacksmiths, attempted to produce hammered-out nibs, but that was laborious and no two nibs were precisely the same. The first patent for a steel pen was taken out by Brian Donkin, a very versatile engineer. Among Donkin's inventions were an improved paper-making machine, a system of canning foods and a method of security printing. The high price of such nibs, three shillings and sixpence each [seventeen and half pence/twenty-four US cents], was one reason that the public were not enthusiastic, and they made too little impact on the market. One of the first to mass-produce a reliable and flexible steel nib was Joseph Gillot of Birmingham, where the main nib producers were based. Other names such as James Perry and Charles Brandauer are but two out of the very many companies that produced nibs by the million. The museum has tens of thousands of nibs in its collection, together with one of the largest related ephemera collections in the country.The photo shows a few examples dating from 1847 onwards. A is in the shape of the Eiffel Tower in Paris; B is a portrait nib and bears the head of the writer Schiller. C forms the shape of a hand and pointed finger, which was a popular design. An important collection of pen nibs and related articles can be seen at the showroom of our associate, the Birmingham Pen Trade Heritage Association, which you can read about here.
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